Most deaths from carcinomas are caused by the hematogenous dissemination of cancer cells to distant organs and the eventual development of metastases. When found in the bone marrow or peripheral blood of carcinoma patients, occult cancer cells are referred to as disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) or circulating tumor cells (CTCs). CTCs and DTCs are considered surrogates of minimal residual disease, i.e., the presence of malignant cells in distant organs that are undetectable by conventional imaging and laboratory tests used for tumor staging after curative surgery of the primary tumor.
In this book, leading investigators in the field provide up-to-date information on a series of important questions, including:
- How can the study of minimal residual disease and CTCs help us to better understand breast cancer metastasis?
- What technologies are available for the detection and characterization of CTCs and DTCs, and what are their relative merits?
- How are DTCs and CTCs relevant to clinical research and practice?
- What is the role of other blood-based biomarkers such as circulating endothelial cells and circulating nucleic acids?
- What are the challenges in drug and biomarker co-development and the use of CTCs for companion diagnostic development?
This book will be of interest and assistance to all who are engaged in the modern management of breast cancer.

Minimal residual disease and circulating tumor cells in breast cancer: Open questions for research

Minimal residual disease and breast cancer metastasis
Self-seeding in cancer
Microenvironments dictating tumor cell dormancy
Technologies for circulating tumor cell (CTC) and disseminated tumor cell (DTC) detection and characterization
Immunomagnetic separation technologies
Microfluidic technologies for the isolation of CTCs
EPISPOT assay: Detection of viable disseminating tumor cells in solid tumor patients
Advances in optical technologies for rare cell detection and characterization
Size-based enrichment technologies for circulating tumor cell (CTC) detection and characterization
Emerging technologies for CTC detection based on depletion of normal cells
Molecular assays for the detection and characterization of CTCs
Multiplex molecular analysis of CTCs
Other blood-based biomarkers
Circulating DNA and next generation sequencing
Circulating microRNAs as non-invasive biomarkers in breast cancer
Circulating endothelial cells and circulating endothelial progenitors
Disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) and circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in breast cancer clinical research and practice
Bone marrow DTCs
CTCs in primary breast cancer
CTCs in early breast cancer
CTCs in metastatic breast cancer
HER2-positive DTCs/CTCs in breast cancer
DTCs and CTCs in breast cancer - 5 decades later
Drug and circulating tumor cell co-development
Challenges in drug and biomarker co-development
Challenges and opportunities in the use of CTCs for companion diagnostic development.